


Teeth

by ChrisBranNorling



Series: Guild Wars 2 Stories [8]
Category: Guild Wars 2 (Video Game)
Genre: Cisgender Character, Gen, Nonbinary Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-10
Updated: 2017-05-10
Packaged: 2018-10-30 09:26:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10873914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChrisBranNorling/pseuds/ChrisBranNorling
Summary: Curiosity is hard to quell, in any species.1321 AE





	Teeth

“Is it true?”

Rancalagen tears his eyes away from the landscape to look at who disturbed his watch. It was the sylvari who had waved at him when his squad got to the Priory. Dark brown bark would have made it hard to see the other’s face, if it weren’t for the golden glow lining his features and illuminating his eyes, harsh against the muted grey and blues of his uniform. The fleshy mound of Rancalagen’s brow raises when there is no follow up question breaking the silence.

“Ask or leave.” He snaps, owing no amount of respect to the twig.

“Ah!” The sylvari stumbles over, robes catching under his feet, and he lands in front of Rancalagen in a pile of limbs. It takes a minute for him to right himself, golden eyes wide and bright. “Do asura habitually shed their teeth?”

Keeping silent, Rancalagen jerks a thumb back towards the fire.

“I just came from talking with Magister Xu. He tells me that asura shed their teeth weekly.”

Rancalagen rubs claws against his forehead, trying to ward off stifled memories of rudimentary anatomy classes, too kind professors, and questing fingers. He jerks his thumb again, even less in the mood for inane questions than he was before.

“Since I have not seen oodles of teeth in the bins around the Priory, I am hard pressed to believe that without a second opinion.” The sylvari chooses to smile, his own teeth bared to the world. While pale like other, fleshier species, they seem to be solid instead of composed of multiple segments.

Perking up under Rancalagen’s attention, the sylvari continues speaking. “Or perhaps we can turn this into a ‘show me your’s and I’ll show you mine’ situation.”

“Glitch off.” Is all Rancalagen mumbles, but opens his mouth just as the sylvari visibly deflates.

Making a pleased noise, the sylvari shuffles over on his knees. Even with his diminished height, he still towers over Rancalagen like the tree he seems fashioned after. Cool wood presses against pale cheeks, and Rancalagen has to lock his joints in an effort not to flinch away.

Instead of the fingers entering his mouth, his head gets jerked around while the sylvari inspects his teeth from different angles. As penance for the rough treatment, he reaches up to the sylvari’s hair, though it could hardly be called hair when it was made up of smooth vines that seemed to be curled up against the cold, and tugs one harshly.

“Apologies,” he says absently, entirely unrepentant as he runs his thumbs along the edges of Rancalagen’s teeth, face close enough to see so many entirely unwanted details. Before he can close his eyes, Rancalagen is drawn to the golden glow set within the cracks in the sylvari’s bark. Questions rise unbidden for what he sees, aggravating him enough to cause his face to pinch.

Feeling instead of seeing the change, the sylvari moves back. “I don’t know anything about teeth,” he says with a slight frown.

Leather creaks as Rancalagen balls his hands tight, awash with anger. But the emotion drains out of him when the sylvari smiles at him again. He grabs at the sylvari’s vines again, pulling his head down to a manageable height. None too gently, he pries the other’s mouth open.

The teeth are a single, solid structure. There are grooves giving the impression of separation, but it’s only superficial. It strikes Rancalagen as odd, because it can’t be an evolutionary adaptation, the visible edge has no variation. He tongues the sharpness of his own, segmented teeth.

“Ya ca hee hy I ah hurious.” Warm breath fans into Rancalagen’s face as the sylvari attempts to speak without moving his mouth. Grimacing, Rancalagen removes his fingers then digs them into a nearby bank of snow.

“You can see why I am curious,” the sylvari reiterates, offering nothing more than his presence as he moves to sit beside Rancalagen.

It’s exactly like sitting next to a tree.

**Author's Note:**

> Rancalagen's never really met someone who identifies as nonbinary before, so at this point things from his perspective are rather rude as he refers to Drephan as he/him.


End file.
